StarGate Universe
by domino365
Summary: After Colonel Young is killed, Colonel Cole must step up and take charge of the Destiny crew. What happens when someone who trusts Rush and his judgement takes command of the ship? A story that follows the series with my OC in command.
1. Chapter 1: Air Part 1

StarGate Universe

Air Part 1

**This is my first story so go easy on the reviews, enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: Stargate Universe and all the characters, ships, locations etc belong to MGM. I own Colonel Cole.  
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"We need suppressing fire!"

An explosion went off next to one of the barricades we'd set up surrounding the gate, almost knocking it down.

I looked up and saw a death glider fly over followed closely by an F-302 firing at it.

"Colonel?"

I turned around to see Lieutenant Vanessa James running over to me.

"What is it, James?" I asked.

She adjusted her helmet and leaned in closely next to my ear.

"Sir, we've evacuated eighty-six percent of the population but that's all we can manage. The Lucian Alliance is really putting pressure on us," she moved back and cocked her gun.

"Tell SG-12 to get their asses back here. We're pulling out."

James looked stunned, as I wasn't one for retreating before the job was done but quickly saluted and ran off in the direction of the village that we were tasked to evacuate. Another explosion, this time close enough to throw me off my feet and into the side of the stargate. My radio clicked on and Colonel Samantha Carters voice sounded from it.

"Colonel Cole do you copy? Colonel respond."

Still in a slightly groggy state from the blast, I reached up my chest and squeezed the radio.

"Hammond, this is Cole. Go ahead."

"Colonel, we're reading a Ha'tak converging on your position. What's you status, over?"

I took a look around and saw scared civilians running through the gate, screaming and crying and SG-6 covering them. I squeezed the radio once again.

"You'd better recall your 302s. We're evacuating the last of the civilians and SG teams now," I got to my feet, "I'll see you back at the SGC, Colonel."

I grabbed my gun and opened fire on a death glider flying over.

"Good luck, Colonel. Hammond out."

As SG-6 evacuated through the stargate I could see James and SG-12 running towards me in the distance.

"Come on!" I shouted.

My gun raised and opened fire as I saw a death glider bearing down on them. A series of explosions were planted behind the team by the glider and one right in the middle of them, sending them into the air in different directions. I looked at my watch and then to the gate, which had begun flickering as the result of taking a hit. My legs began to move and I sprinted over and checked the bodies of SG-12 for survivors.

Nothing.

Apart from a faint groan. I looked around and saw James moving slowly on her back trying to get up.

"Stay still. I'll help you."

I slid my hands around her toned waist and helped her to her feet. Another blast from a glider blew a hole in the gate, shutting it off.

"Damn!" I squeezed my radio, "Hammond, come in."

Nothing but static.

I looked to James who had a big gash in her forehead and was bleeding bad. My hand tightened around the radio again.

"Hammond, please respond."

Static for a few more seconds until...

"Colonel, what can I do for you?"

I felt a smile break across my face.

"The gate's offline, requesting emergency beam out?"

A glider flew over and planted and an explosion next to us. I threw James to the ground and myself on top of her, holding her tight I began to realise that as the only surviving member of my team, all that mattered to me was her safety as we waited for beam up.

"Access granted, Colonel."

A few seconds later we were engulfed by a beam of light and appeared in front of the captains' chair aboard the USS George Hammond.

"Medic!" shouted Colonel Carter, noticing James lying beneath me bleeding out.

I rolled off of her as two medics carrying a stretcher and a breathing unit lifted James onto the stretcher and carried her off to the sick bay. I lay there for a few more seconds just staring up at the ceiling before a hand appeared in my field of view. My eyes followed the arm until it reached the body. It was Samantha Carter, who was looking down at me and smiling, her bright blue eyes fixed on my dark brown ones. My hand shot up and grabbed hers and in one pull she had me on my feet.

"How are you doing, Colonel?" she asked, softly.

My hand wiped the sweat dripping from my forehead and chin. The air seemed much colder up here than on the planet.

"Could be better," I replied in such a low voice it could've been considered a mutter.

I'd worked with Carter a few times before back when I was a Captain in the original SG-2 under Kawalski then Ferretti and she was a member of SG-1. Since she became commander of Atlantis and then the Hammond we'd not seen much of each other as I was the commander of SG-7 at the SGC and she was captain of the Hammond up here among the stars. I quickly derailed my train of thought and looked down realising that I was still holding onto her hand.

"Sorry Colonel," I saluted, straightening up and dropping her hand.

My eyes drifted back to hers.

"Once again, thanks."

I quickly dismissed myself and headed down to my temp quarters for a lie down and a nap.

I got to my quarters, stripped down to my underwear and fell flat on my face, on the bed.

The door to my quarters opened and James stepped in. I was still sleeping soundly, snoring loudly. She smiled, sat on the side of the bed and gently put her hand on my shoulder. Even though I was sleeping, my body reacted to the touch and I curled up around the hand. Slowly, opening my eyes I looked up. Letting out a mighty scream I rolled off the bed and landed on the floor.

"Ouch!"

"You ok?" James reached down and helped me up.

I playfully punched her arm.

"Lieutenant, you scared the living goa'uld out of me."

She shuffled closer to me and rested her hand on my leg.

Leaning in, she whispered, "I heard you pulled my sorry ass out."

"I don't want to be the one telling Lieutenant Maynard that you were blown to bits by the Alliance."

I noticed her lips curved to form a small smile. The door to my quarters swung open once again and Colonel Carter stepped in.

"Am I interrupting anything?"

I shot to my feet and saluted.

"No, Colonel."

Carter moved further into the room and stopped just opposite me.

"Stop doing that, we're the same rank. I'm here to inform you that we've arrived at Earth but you two will not be getting off here."

I couldn't hide the confusion on my face and neither could James.

"Where are we going?" she wondered.

"You two have been selected by General O'Neill, Colonel Young and Doctor Rush to join the Icarus Project."

I relaxed a little and went off to find my trousers as Carter continued.

"You'll be transferred to Icarus base. The base is situated on a planet with some very unique properties in which we will attempt to dial the nine chevron address found on Atlantis."

This, I have to admit, was pretty exiting stuff. Being part of the team that unlocks the ninth and final chevron.

"When do we leave?" I asked, eagerly.

"A few hours. We'll be picking up some of the other team members then heading out."

I pulled on my jacket and returned to standing next to Carter.

"Permission to beam to the SGC before we leave?"

Carter put her and on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Colonel. I can't grant that," she replied.

I shook my head and was slightly disappointed that I'd not be able to say goodbye to General Landry but there was nothing I could do about it. Vanessa stood up and walked over to the door.

"I'm heading back to my quarters. Cole, I'll see you later." I nodded and she left.

Carter left a few minutes later. I moved over to the bed and sat on it, sighing heavily. Another knock on my door.

"What is it?" I was beginning to get really annoyed with people knocking on my door.

The door opened and a red head, who I immediately recognised as Lieutenant Scarlett 'Red' Rivers, stepped in. The second we heard the door click shut we ran to each other and entered a tight embrace.

"Red! I can't believe it's you!"

We relaxed a little and she looked up into my eyes. She had the most brilliant green eyes that I found myself getting lost in.

"Three years," she said, a tear running down her cheek, "I've missed you so much."

"Shhh, it's all right. I'm here now," I raised my hand to her cheek and one of my fingers glided over it, wiping away the tear.

She sat on the bed and I sat beside her, putting a hand on her back and rubbing it softly. I looked up and was met by Reds bright green eyes. Her face was incredibly close to mine, just a few inches away. I could feel her hot breath on my lips and smell her intoxicating fragrance.

"Are you going to be joining us on Icarus?" I wondered; feeling like I'd just ruined the mood.

She shook her head, smiling. Her hand came up and rested softly on my cheek. I leaned in and placed my lips on hers. They were soft and warm, I felt like I was in heaven. My hands found the zipper of her jump suit and I began to pull it down, revealing more of her toned body which my hands slowly explored eliciting soft moans from Scarlett as I pushed her back onto the bed.

My eyes shot opened and looked at the clock next to the bed.

Please don't be a dream.

I rolled over and saw her lying, fast asleep beside me. Slowly, I moved closer to her and slid my hand around her, pulling her close to me.

"Mornin'," she whispered with a smile as I planted a soft but passionate kiss onto her lips.

My lips stretched into a huge smile, which I didn't think I'd be able to get rid of. She turned to face me.

"Clearly the best sex we've ever had," she stated.

I nodded my head and pulled her close so that our bodies were touching and started kissing her. Things were getting more and more heated as we resumed the previous nights exploration of each other's bodies.

Bang Bang Bang!

Breaking the kiss and turning towards the door, I shouted," what do you want!"

"It's Lieutenant James. Colonel Carter said that she wants to see us on the bridge," she told me.

I climbed out of the bed forgetting that I was naked and walked up to the door.

"I'll be out in a minute," I replied before turning back to Scarlett, "stay here, I'll only be a minute. When I get back I'm gonna ensure that you don't walk for a week."

I quickly got dressed and set off to the bridge. Lieutenant James was waiting outside the door as she was heading to the bridge as well.

"Have fun?" she asked with a cheeky smile.

"I don't know what you mean."

She stuck out her hand stopping me just before entering the bridge.

"Don't lie to me. You spent the night with someone by the name of, Red," she teased, "you two were really going at it, could hear the whole thing through the wall."

I took her arm and leaned in closely to her.

"You say anything and I'll make sure the iris is closed next time you dial Earth," releasing her arm we continued to the bridge.

"Good morning, Colonel, Lieutenant," greeted Colonel Carter, with a big smile.

Approaching us she handed a tablet to the helmsman.

"We'll be dropping out soon. You'd better gear up."

"Yes ma'am," replied James with a naughty smile before spinning on her heals and leaving.

I approached Carter and held out my hand.

"It's been a pleasure," I said.

She reached up and shook my hand.

"The pleasure is mine, Colonel. Oh and please, make sure Lieutenant Rivers is able to walk later because she still has to work," she smiled.

My face turned red so I released her hand and quickly left the bridge to go and finish what I had started earlier with Scarlett.

The beam of light dropped James and myself on a platform build into a mountain that overlooked a valley with an airstrip and some 302s on it.

"Welcome to Icarus Base."

I turn around almost in perfect sync with James to see Colonel Everett Young followed by Doctor Nicholas Rush and Lieutenant Matthew Scott.

"It's a pleasure to be here, Colonel," I reached out and shook his hand.

Young moved over to James while I walked up to Scott.

"Long time no see," he said with a smile.

I shook his hand.

"Yeah. I hear Ron's assigned here too."

He nodded with an even bigger grin on his face, "yeah. He's down in the gate room."

"We'll have to go see him once I've been situated."

Scott gave me a pat on the shoulder and I went to see Rush.

"Doctor Rush," I reached out my hand.

He grabbed it firmly.

"Colonel Cole?"

"Yes, Doctor. You've been quite the icon at the SGC," I let go of his hand, "apparently you're the one that's going to unlock the ninth chevron."

He seemed preoccupied with something in his notebook and only gave me a half-baked answer before going back inside.

"Would you like to come inside?" wondered Young.

I nodded and the party followed Young to the gate room where I saw Lieutenant Greer and Sergeant Riley looking over some boxes.

"Hey Greer!" I shouted walking up behind them.

He turned around, his face stuck in neutral before a big smile crept onto his face.

"Colonel Cole. How'd you get out here? I thought that with your new promotion you'd be given command of a ship," he wondered.

"Nah, the folks back home thought you needed a little hand out here," I bragged.

Greer came over to me and raised his gun as if challenging me.

"You want to do this?"

I stepped up to match his challenge.

"It's on," I replied with a smug grin on my face.

The stand off continued until I was tapped on the back. I turned around to see a beautiful young blonde standing with a smile on her face.

"Tamara Johansson."

While not as beautiful Lieutenant Rivers she still caught my eye.

"What is it, Lieutenant?" I asked.

"I'm here to show you to you quarters."

I nodded and followed her down corridor after corridor until we found a door with my name on it.

"Here you are, sir," Tamara opened the door.

I stepped in and saw some of my clothes lying on the bed.

"Where'd you get those?"

A smile appeared on Tamara's face and I could tell that I'd regret asking that question.

"The Hammond picked up some of your stuff while you were emm..." I motioned her to go on, "having sex with Lieutenant Rivers."

I cursed under my breath, "damn you, James!"

"Sorry to make your day worse but I'd expect a visit from the local IOA officer, Camille Wray, sometime within the next hour."

I nodded in annoyance, closing the door after Tamara had left. After packing my clothes away, I set out to find James.

I found her on one of the platforms.

"I need to talk to you, alone."

James and I walked back into the base.

"You told Lieutenant Johansen some interesting things about me."

"I'm sorry, sir. We were chatting and I might've let it slip without realising until its too late," she told me.

"You'd better not be planning to take a trip back to Earth anytime soon because the iris is gonna be closed," I threatened, "it doesn't happen again."

She saluted. I turned and headed for the gate room.

An hour passed: no sign of Wray. Two hours passed, three, four, five. Six hours later I'd gotten settled in and was in the gate room with Young, Rush, Riley and Scott. That's when she decided to show up.

"Colonel Cole?"

I could see her walking up the stairs towards me as I wished I could disappear.

"Colonel Cole, I'm Camille Wray. Nice to meet you," she extended her hand but got only a grunt in return, "I'm well aware of your history with the IOA but I'm not here to talk about that. I'm here to welcome you to Icarus Base."

I gave in; mentally kicking myself I reached out and shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you."

There was a short silence that began to make everything more and more awkward until fortunately interrupted by Colonel Young.

"I think it's time we got back to work," he said as I let go of Camille's hand.

Six Months Later.

"Have you seen Lieutenant Scott?" Young asked me.

I knew exactly where Scott was and what, or rather who he was doing.

"I think I saw him sneaking off with Lieutenant James."

Young let out a long sigh as he squeezed his radio.

"Scott, this is Colonel Young. Come in please."

Just static. He looked to me and I shrugged.

"Our guest have arrived a few minutes early. What's your position?"

Still nothing.

"I'll be outside if you need me," I said to the Colonel.

It was a sunny day, just like every other day. Nothing much to do now but wait. A few minutes later Young appear, as did a beam of light dropping four people on the platform. One I recognised was Doctor Rush the other was Senator Armstrong. Young approached the Senator.

"Senator, it is my pleasure to welcome you to Icarus Base," he shook the Senators hand.

Armstrong then turned to me and shook my hand.

"Senator, an honour," I said.

"This is my executive assistant, Chloe," he said as myself and Young greeted her, "she is also my daughter."

My gaze shifted to the young man behind them.

"And you must be..." began Young.

"The uh, contest winner; yes," he finished, turning to the rail gun and pulling out his phone "that is a big gun."

He snapped a picture of it.

"Rail gun, 500 rounds per minute."

We turned round to see Lieutenant Scott standing in the entrance to the base.

"This is Lieutenant Scott. He's been assigned to you, Mr Wallace," stated Young, as he was almost cut off by Rush.

"Shall we go inside then."

I probably should've followed the party to the gate room but I went to seek out Lieutenant Janes instead.

After searching the entire base short of waste recycling, I went to check her quarters.

My fist slammed against the door, "Lieutenant!"

I heard a click and then the faint sound of James voice saying come in. I stepped in and was greeted by James in nothing but a dark green t-shirt and black underwear, her hair in a regulation bun.

"You are supposed to be on duty, Lieutenant!" I think I said that a little too harshly but moved on.

"Yes sir, I realise that sir," she replied standing at attention.

I took a step forward almost breathing down her throat.

"And what were you doing with Lieutenant Scott, causing him to be late when meeting our new arrivals," I questioned.

James visibly hesitated, "I-I was having sex with him. Sir."

I took a step out side the door.

"Get dressed and get back to your post," I ordered, "and Lieutenant. It stops, now?"

She saluted, "yes, sir."

I closed the door and begun to walk towards the gate room.

"Cole, this is Young respond."

I squeezed my radio.

"Go ahead," I sighed.

"Colonel Carter requests that you return to the surface for immediate beam up."

I took a left instead of a right, heading for the surface.

"Did she say what it was about?"

"Negative."

I stepped out onto the platform and was immediately surrounded by a bright light, finding myself once again in front of the captains chair aboard the Hammond.

"Welcome aboard, Colonel."

I turned around, watching Carter stand up and walk over to me a friendly smile on her face.

"Nice to be back aboard," I replied with a smile.

She leaned into my ear as if telling me a secret, "Rivers is in her quarters. Third door on the left. Deck three."

Three months since I'd last seen her and even that was just a five-minute visit. My heart was aching so I rushed off to her quarters.

I ran down the corridor and knocked on the door to her quarters. Upon opening the door she threw her arms around my waist and pull me into a tight embrace.

"Careful!" I broke the embrace and removed my gun, putting it on her desk, "safety's off."

We moved further into the room as I closed the door behind her. She smiled and brought me into a deep kiss. I began to unzip her jump suit, slowly rolling it over her shoulders and down to her waist.

"How long are you staying?" she wondered.

She took off my jacket, allowing it to drop to the floor.

"Just until the Senator is finished dinner," I said, smiling, "so another hour, max."

She gave me a seductive smile and I slipped off her t-shirt.

Leaning close to her ear, I whispered, "five times."

I kissed along her jaw line to her lips.

She undid my belt and began to pull at my trousers when an alarm went off. Fumbling, we pulled on our clothes and went to the bridge.

She took her seat at the weapons console.

"Three Goa'uld Ha'taks just dropped out of hyperspace and are attacking the planet!" she informed us.

Carter took her seat.

"Send me back," I pulled the strap for my gun over my head and cocked it.

"It's too dangerous," I gave her a look that told her I was getting down there one way or another, "fine. Beam him down."

Seconds later I appeared on the main platform. There were men on the turrets. Colonel Young came over to greet me.

"Should've stayed on the Hammond, Colonel."

I smiled, "what do you want me to do?"

He took me to the door.

"Head down to the gate room and prep for evacuation."

I nodded and headed inside.

The gate room was packed. Sergeant Riley was sitting at the dialling computer under the watchful eye of Doctor Rush.

"Riley, start dialling!" I ordered.

Eli rushed into the room where he began arguing with Rush. I saw Greer herding people into the gate room and went over to see him.

"Sergeant, is that everyone?" I asked.

"Yes, sir," he replied.

From there I moved to one of the other platforms with rail guns on it as a defence.

"Get to the gate room, we're moving out!" I shouted.

The platform cleared quickly. I turned and moved towards the door when a death glider hit the rock above it. I ran back into the base narrowly avoiding the rocks that clogged up the door.

"Not getting out that way," I murmured, heading back to the gate room.

People had just begun heading through the gate when I entered. Noticing Riley, I ran up to talk to him.

"Is the evacuation to Earth going smoothly?" I asked.

"No, sir," he replied, "it's the nine chevron address."

"What? Where's Rush?"

"He already went through."

"Where's Young?"

"He went to help rescue some civilians from a cave in."

The base shook again, forcing me to grab onto the back of Riley's chair.

"Keep everyone moving," I ordered.

Turning, I made my way onto the ramp. Most of the civilians had been evacuated by now; all that was left was myself, Greer, a civilian and Young. Young was frantically searching through boxes until he found a grey case.

"Sir!" shouted Greer.

"Go! You to Colonel!"

"Yes, sir!" I replied before myself, Greer and the wounded civilian stepped through the gate.

I was violently thrown out the other end of the gate, landing on Doctor Bergman, a young redheaded scientist.

"Ouch!"

"Sorry about that," I pulled myself up.

TJ came up to me.

"Where's Colonel Young?" she wondered.

I looked back at the gate, "he was right behind me."

Seconds later Colonel Young came flying through the gate and rolled to a stop between the two consoles under the stairs.

"TJ! TJ!"

We pushed through the crowd towards Scott's voice. Young was lying on the ground with his head split opens. TJ leant down next to him.

"He's dead," she said, removing her fingers from his neck.

"Ok, stay calm. I am assuming command," I informed the group, "Scott, take Eli and find Rush."

"Yes, sir."

I turned to TJ who was on the verge of crying.

Grabbing her arms I whispered softly, "keep it together, Lieutenant."

She wiped her face and nodded. Letting her go she continued her work. Looking around I spotted Sergeant Greer and motioned for her to come over. He did.

"Greer, I need you to come with me. We're going to have a look around."

He nodded and we began to walk down a corridor that was only partially lit. After a long walk we reached a window.

"We're on a ship!" I exclaimed.

"Appears so."

My radio click on and the sound of Eli's voice sounded from it, he was panicking.

"Colonel, this is Eli. Rush insists on pressing buttons when he has no idea what he's doing!"

"Hold on, we'll be right there."

Greer and myself sprinted down multiple corridors until we found the room where Rush, Eli and Scott were.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"The life support system is on but, for some reason, not working properly. I'm attempting to reset it," explained Rush.

Eli turned to me, "he has no idea what he's doing."

Greer raised his gun, pointing it at Rush.

"Step away from that thing," he commanded.

"That screen says that what you're doing is..."

"Eli," said Rush.

"Is that what it says or not?"

"You only think you know what it says because I embedded a rudimentary version of the Ancient language into the game," he stated, "this is not a game, Eli."

"Is it safe?" I asked.

"Yes," he answered, moving his finger over the button.

"Back off now or I will shoot," Greer threatened.

I took a step forward, "stand down, Greer. That's an order!"

He didn't lower his gun, "he screwed us once, I'm not gonna let him do it again."

I walked over and placed my hand on the top of his gun, lowering it. I nodded and Rush pushed the button.

Nothing.

"So?" wondered Eli.

"Well I suppose that would've been too simple," he said, as if he knew nothing was going to happen before turning and leaving.

"Nothing happened so let's get back to the gate room and come up with a plan of action," I suggested as everyone but Eli began to filter out.

Eli continued working on the console for several more minutes before Rush returned and began working on another console. For the first time since the attack I had the time to sit and think. Wondering whether I'd get home, to Scarlett, to my family, the SGC. A holographic image of the Milky Way appeared.

"That's Earth. What is this, Rush?" I got up and approached it to get a better look.

"It's a map of the ships journey," he explained.

The hologram became animated and a line moved from Earth to a point in Pegasus, to a point in the galaxy after that and so on.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Several billion light-years from home."

To be continued...

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**Air Part 2 will be available soon. Like I said this is my first story but I am open to constructive criticism to help me improve.**


	2. Chapter 2: Air Part 2

**Unlike the first chapter I think that this departs a bit more from the original episode. I won't be uploading all chapters this quickly but I've not really had that much to do recently so I've been pretty much working on it non stop. Please review and I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Air Part 2

The second I stepped into the gate room all eyes turned to me.

"Listen up!" the chatter quietened down quite quickly, "we're stranded on an Ancient ship, billions of light-years from home. We need to sort out what we've got."

Camille Wray approached me, her expression angry.

"Just dial Earth," she said.

"We are unable to do that at this time..."

Senator Armstrong cut me off.

"Dial the gate!"

"We can't," I repeated, "Doctor Rush has informed me that the broken life support system is our priority and I intend to act on his recommendation."

There are a few angry comments thrown back and forth as I turn to Scott.

"Get the civilians sorting out what we've got, I want a complete inventory," I ordered.

"Yes, sir," Scott nodded.

I headed back to the control interface room. On my way there I bumped into TJ who seemed saddened.

"How are you?" I wondered.

She turned to me, tears steaming down her face.

"I've just finished putting Colonel Young's body on ice."

I pulled her into a comforting hug.

"I know you had feelings for him and I know that it's tough losing someone you care about, but you're going to make it through this," I said, trying my best to comfort her.

She looked up at me and smiled, "thanks and I know I'll make it through this, I just need time."

"Take all the time you need."

We broke the embrace and she continued back to the gate room and I continued back to the control interface room. Upon entering I notice Rush is sitting with a black bag next to him working away on something.

"We're going to focus on life support," no reply, "but I'd don't see why we shouldn't dial Earth."

He looked up, sitting his broken glasses on the top of the console.

"I've been looking through what little of the systems we have access to and I've discovered that this ship doesn't have enough power to dial Earth," he explained.

I nodded, "what's in the bag?"

"The communication stones," he answered, returning to his work.

I picked up the back and put it over my shoulder, "keep everyone calm, I'm heading back to Earth."

His nod was barley noticeable making it obvious that he'd stopped listening to me. I found a nice little room with a table and two chairs in it. Closing the door behind me I set up the stones. I took a deep breath and placed the stone on the device.

My eyes shot open and I looked at the monitor directly in front of me. I'd switched bodies with Doctor Bill Lee.

"Sir?"

I looked up and saw a young air force marine staring down at me.

"Colonel Evan Cole."

"Please sir, follow me."

The marine led me straight to General O'Neill's office.

"Please take a seat," he motioned, as I closed the door behind me.

The chair wasn't very comfortable but it was pretty good to be back on Earth.

"And you are?"

"Colonel Evan Cole."

"What happened to Young?" he looked up from his work.

"He was killed," there was a short silence, "I assumed command."

O'Neill noted something on one of his files.

"What's the situation?"

"We are on an Ancient space ship, billions of light-years from home," it suddenly hit me, the severity of the situation, "there is a stargate aboard but we don't have enough power to dial Earth, in fact, we barely have enough power to keep life support running."

O'Neill stood up and went over to put away the file he was working on.

"What can we do?" he wondered.

I felt so helpless, nothing anyone could do for anyone. Kind of made sitting pointless, reporting a situation to people that could do absolutely nothing to help.

"You know, the usual, pass word to our families, friends, loved ones," I hesitated, "I need to get back. The life support system is failing. I've got Rush working on it but the situation isn't good."

O'Neill nodded and moments later I found myself back on Destiny, sitting next to the stone device.

"Colonel?" I saw Lieutenant James looking down at me.

"What is it, James?"

"Camille Wray and Senator Armstrong would like to see you."

As I entered the gate room Wray and Senator Armstrong appeared in front of me and immediately started shouting over each other.

"Both of you shut the hell up!" I shouted.

They fell silent and looked at me.

"Wray, what do you want?" I asked.

"What are you doing to get us home?"

"I've just used the stones to contact home world command. Informed them of our situation."

"So?"

"So..." I continued, "we will not be going home, not anytime soon at least."

"This is an outrage!" the Senator cut in.

The Senator began to waver before collapsing; Chloe wrapped her arms around him.

"Deal with it!" I shot back, "Scott!"

"Yes, sir."

He was standing on the stairs to my right.

"Have you finished the inventory of our supplies?"

"Yes, Colonel."

"Good, I want everyone split up into teams to search the ship," I announced, "no-one touch anything."

There were various nods and murmurs of approval as Scott began organising everyone. On my way back to the control room, TJ ran up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder, stopping me.

Turning around I was met by her deep blue gaze, "What is it TJ?"

"There are people beginning to collapse due to oxygen deprivation."

"Do what you can, I'm on my way to see Rush now," I gave TJ a reassuming pat on the arm and continued on my way.

"What is it?" asked Rush, clearly annoyed.

I looked at the screen he was working on, "I came to check up on you're progress."

"I'd get on a lot better if you didn't keep interrupting me every five minutes," he snapped.

"What've you got?"

"I'm not sure, just gimme a little time."

I looked over to Eli, who shrugged.

Giving up, I nodded and headed back to the gate room where Sergeant Greer met me.

"Status?"

"It's bad, people have been collapsing all over the place," he reported.

I raised my voice to reach everyone, "I found some quarters on my way back from using the stones. Everyone make yourself at home, we could be here for a while."

Feeling the stress and tiredness kicking in I sat down on the bottom stair. Sighing I rested my head in my hands. The room was empty when I next looked up with nothing but the soft humming of the ship in the air.

"Colonel!"

Camille Wray walked up to me and I gave a long sigh.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I've just had a very interesting conversation with Greer."

"Good for you," I replied, sarcastically.

"Before we got here he was in detention. What do you plan to do about that?"

"Nothing..."

"Nothing! He was in there for a good reason!" she shouted.

I stood up, challenging her.

"Telford was a prick, Greer's a good soldier. He's remaining where he is," I said, firmly.

"You'll regret that."

"I promise you," I smirked, "I won't."

Wray grunted and stormed off.

Entering the control interface room Rush was talking to Eli about a 'Kino'.

"Have you found anything?"

"Ah, well, it's not so good, really. Um, these processing nodes are scrubbers responsible for cleaning CO2 from the air here, here and here. It's indicating malfunction; others are failing," he explained.

"Where's the nearest?"

"The gate room."

"God damn it," I cursed, "I just came from there."

I motioned for Scott to follow me and we headed back to the gate room. When we arrived there Scott pointed to a grate in the wall.

"There should be a kind of grate covering the node," sounded Rush's voice from my radio.

I nodded and Scott tapped the lower most button. The grate slid up and the nod slowly moved out, spilling a horrible black liquid all over the floor.

"Oh yuk!" I jump back to avoid it spilling on my boot.

"What do you see?" asked Rush.

I clicked on my radio, "black goo."

"We'd better analyse it."

"Scott, get Brody and Palmer up here. No doubt Rush will eventually get here."

Scott left. In no time at all everyone arrived to analyse the goo. Brody pulled out an instrument and tested a sample of the compound. As he's doing that Chloe enters.

"Alkaline," he announced.

"So, what is it?" I wondered.

"The used-up residue of whatever magic compound the Ancients used to scrub CO2 from the air."

"Where do we go from here?"

"Our first priority must be to seal off any of the leaks. If we can manage that, then we can maybe buy ourselves a day or so before the build-up of CO2 kills us," suggested Rush.

"Let's do that. Scott, I need you're teams reassigned to finding all of these nodes and seal any leak," I turned to Rush, "how much time do we have?"

"I don't know."

"Couple of hours at most," answered Brody.

I looked around at everyone's worried faces. My next decision would decide the fate of everyone aboard this ship.

"Anyone know how to fix it?" I waited for a few seconds, "no?"

Once again, Doctor Rush had the answer, "lime, we need lime."

"We don't have any onboard," said Palmer, "the medical grade stuff was left back on Icarus."

"Ok, let's say we say find the leaks, can you fix this?" wondered Scott.

Rush proceeded to explain how to fix it, "I doubt this stuff can be cooked off. Perhaps if there were stores of this substance in the clean form, or something else capable of CO2 sequestration - calcium carbonate, lithium hydroxide - then yes, if."

"OK, well, that's not gonna matter because you're gonna get the Gate dialled back to Earth before this becomes an issue, Rush," Scott said, optimistically.

"Lieutenant, we don't have the power. We're not going anywhere," I felt kind of bad for destroying their hope but we needed to focus on staying alive.

Scott's face sank. So did a lot of people's in the room. I knew that sooner or later I'd not only have to deal with our material needs but also our emotional and mental needs.

"For the moment find the broken nodes and report them, dismissed."

Just when everyone had left my radio clicked on.

"Colonel Cole, this is Sergeant Greer. We've found something you might want to see."

I squeezed the radio, "on my way."

After spending a great deal of time walking around clueless, I finally found the shuttle.

"Oxygen is being bled out of the ship through this force field."

Doctor Rush had just explained a terrible problem obviously not knowing that I was standing behind him.

"What do we do about it?"

I could see Rush visibly jump as he turned to face me.

"We need to seal the hatch..."

"I can feel a but coming on."

"But the door can only be closed from the inside," finished Franklin.

"Someone has to sacrifice themselves to save everyone else."

It was a reality that no one wanted to face but it had to be done.

"Keep working the problem, I'm going to update Senator Armstrong," no matter how hard I tried I couldn't keep my voice steady.

As I walked down the corridor I thought that I was the one gonna be in that shuttle I wouldn't let anyone else do it. Arriving at the Senators quarters I banged on the door. It opened and I was met by Chloe, who showed me to the Senators bed. TJ was taking the Senators pulse.

"Senator, I have some sad news. The ship is loosing oxygen through a damaged shuttle that can only be sealed from the inside," I said.

"Is there any other way?" he asked, weakly.

"I've got the smartest people on Earth working on it but so far there's no other way," I shook my head.

The Senator struggled to his feet.

"Is there anything I can do?"

"The best thing you can do is get back on that bed and rest," I advised.

TJ gently took the Senators arm, "I agree."

Once TJ had finished helping the Senator, her and myself stepped back outside.

"How is he?"

She shook her head, "not good."

I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Do the best you can."

She went back inside and I returned to the control interface room.

"Any ideas?"

Rush did nothing and I could see Eli shaking his head. Chloe enter, a look of curiosity on her face.

"Who's it gonna be?" she questioned.

I slowly raised my hand.

"Who's hurt?"

TJ came running in with a worried look on her face.

"What? No-ones hurt," I was confused.

Her expression turned to confusion also.

"Senator Armstrong said that Chloe went to check on someone who was hurt so I followed her here."

"Why'd he do that?" asked Chloe.

The room was completely silent; no one knew what was happening.

"He's here."

It was Greer on the radio. We knew exactly where he was and who was "here". Chloe ran off immediately with TJ and myself close behind.

There was sadness and loss in the air outside the shuttle. Everyones faces glued to the door. I looked to Greer who pointed at the door. It was Senator Armstrong. I saw Scott go up to Chloe, who was screaming and clawing at the door, and wrestle her to the ground. He held her in a comforting embrace.

Leaning in to TJ's ear, I whispered, "I'm entrusting you to prepare the appropriate services."

She didn't utter a word, just barely nodded. Chloe ducked under the jammed open door and stormed past me with Scott and TJ following her.

"No-one gets into this corridor," I told Greer.

"Yes, sir."

I arrived in the control interface room to see Chloe attacking Rush.

"That's enough!" I shouted.

The room went quiet and all eyes were on me.

"Chloe, I was the one who told the Senator the situation, you should be angry with me not..."

"He's a heartless bastard!" she screamed, "he only cares about his own ass!"

She made another run at Rush but was stopped by Eli.

"There's no denying that," I agreed, "but he died in order to buy more time for us."

"He provided the time we need to stay alive," added Rush.

Chloe shot him a deadly look as TJ helped her out.

"How much time has that bought us?"

Eli looked down at his console, "one day, max."

"See what you could come up with. I'm going to tell Wray what's happened," I turned and walked out.

The corridors were fairly quiet, I assumed that was because everyone was hold up in their new quarters wondering what happens next. I had to admit that I was thinking the same thing and the thought of being stuck on this ship so far from home was scary. I approached Wray's quarters and banged on the door, it slid open.

"Colonel! Please, come in."

I sat down next her on what seemed like a couch.

"I've got some bad news," I gently rested my right hand on her knee, "Senator Armstrong died to buy us an extra day of air."

"Oh my god!"

"I've got Rush and Eli working the problem so I'm hopeful we'll get it sorted in the time we've got," that was the most positive thing I could think of.

Camille's face stayed shocked, I wasn't sure if she was still listening to me or not so I continued.

"On another, equally depressing note," I mentally kicked myself for the poor choice of words, "will you be attending Colonel Young's funeral?"

"I doubt it, we weren't that close."

I stood up to leave, "I'll save you a seat if you change your mind."

Closing the door, I began the boring walk to the control interface room, the corridors a little busier but with mostly military personnel. Suddenly, the lights began to flicker.

"Colonel Cole, please meet me in the gate room, now!"

Rush sounded upset so I picked up the pace. The gate was dialling. I tried to get into the gate room but Franklin blocked the doorway.

"Out of the way Franklin."

"I can't let you in."

Rush showed up and was also blocked by Franklin.

"I am ordering you to step aside."

"We have to try."

"We don't have the power!" I threw my fist at the side of his head and he hit the ground.

As the ship became distorted, Rush jumped over Franklin and ran into the gate room throwing Riley aside and stopped the dialling process.

I pulled the radio from my pocket and squeezed it, "Greer, report to the gate room and lock up Doctor Franklin and Sergeant Riley."

"Yes, sir."

I went over to Rush, "how is it?"

"Our life support system is failing. Add to that, the fact that we now barely have enough power to keep it online," he explained.

I then turned to Riley, "What are you doing? Do you wonna get us all killed?"

He shook his head, nervously.

"Didn't think so."

Greer and James showed up and reported to me.

"Greer, take Riley and Franklin, and lock them up," I turned to James, "Lieutenant, no-one but me, you, Rush, Scott, Greer and TJ are allowed in here without myself or Rush's authorisation."

"Yes, sir."

"How're you holding up, James?"

"I'm managing, sir."

"Good," I gave her my usual reassuring pat on the back and headed to the control interface room.

Eli was sitting, concentrating hard on his console.

"You found anything?"

He didn't look very hopeful, "there's nothing we can do aboard the ship."

"Colonel."

It was TJ on the radio, so I clicked it on.

"Go ahead."

"Sir. We've dropped out of FTL."

I looked at Eli and he looked back, confusion on both of our faces. My radio clicked on once again.

"Colonel, it's James."

"Go ahead."

"The gate dialled itself, I think you'd better get down here."

"On my way."

I motioned Eli to follow me and we headed to the gate room.

The room had a lit grey glow to it. Eli immediately went to the vacant console while I went to see Rush.

"What've we got?"

"Destiny dropped out of FTL and dialled the gate because it detected what we need on the other side of that wormhole," he replied.

"So there could be lime on that planet?"

"It's possible."

"Good," I turned to Eli, "send a Kino through."

He pulled out a remote and sent a Kino whizzing through the event horizon.

"I'm get readings over here," it was park that'd taken over the console that Eli had left.

"Temperature, gravity, atmosphere composition, barometric pressure," she pressed a few buttons on the console, "oxygen, nitrogen, little CO2. Looks good."

"I'm getting good visuals," added Eli.

"James!" she came over, "prep a team."

She nodded and left. I turned to look at the active gate.

"Looks like we might just have found a solution to our problem."

To be continued...

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**Thanks for reading, please review and I'll get Air Part 3 up soon.  
**


	3. Chapter 3: Air Part 3

**Another quick update. I don't hope to be doing every chapter this quick but I'm just really into it right now. This is a definate departure from the original episode so I hope you enjoy the change.**

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Air Part 3

When I stepped out of the event horizon I was immediately take back by the intense heat.

"Ooh damn," James followed me out and put on her sunglasses.

Behind her were Greer, Eli, Palmer, Franklin and Rush.

"Test here," I pointed to a patch of sand just off the ramp.

Palmer and Franklin unpacked a testing kit and got to work. Meanwhile James and myself climbed to the top of the nearest dune and looked out over the vast sea of sand.

"I hope we don't have to go any further, don't think I brought enough water," she smiled, taking a gulp from her canteen.

"I feel your pain," we turned back towards the gate, "Palmer, you found anything."

"Looks like gypsum," she called back.

"And that's good?"

"Gypsum is calcium sulphate, which is thirty-six percent calcium carbonate which, is what we're looking for."

"It's good," I said to James.

On my way back down the dune my foot gave way and I went do dragging James with me. We stopped at the bottom with her lying on top of me.

"My underwear is full of sand," I stated.

While I was busy trying to get the sand out of my underwear, James smiled lovingly at me.

"That's a nice smile, Lieutenant," I rolled her off me, "don't wear it out."

I could see her blush as I stood up.

"Have you found any lime?" I asked.

I saw a glimmer of hope on Franklins face, "There's none here but it's a good indicator that it's nearby."

"Eli, dial the gate. We'll split into two teams," I quickly divided up the group in my head, "Curtis, Palmer and Franklin with me. Rush, Eli and James with Greer."

The group divided up.

"Radio checks every fifteen minutes," I added.

Greer's team went off to the right. I squeezed my radio.

"Scott, how long until the ship jumps?"

"Twelve hours," he answered.

"See you in eleven," I clicked off my radio.

Pointing ahead my team went off to the left.

We walked for an hour, at least before I started to hear complaining.

"Test here," I stopped and pointed to the sand.

Franklin helped Palmer unpack the kit while I found a nice little spot to sit down. The heat was incredible. I took a quick gulp of water when Curtis came over to me.

"Do you think we'll ever get home?" he asked, he sounded tired.

"You want an honest answer?" he nodded, "I don't think we will get home. At least not for a few years."

I noticed that Franklin and Palmer had stopped testing to look up at me.

"It's true," I continued, "have you found anything?"

Palmer shook her head as she began to pack away the gear. As we walked I could feel myself becoming light headed. Dehydration was setting in. I took another, rather large, gulp of water to try and combat my blurring vision but it didn't work. We got to the top of a high sand dune that dropped sharply.

"You wonna test up here or down there?" I asked.

The fact that Palmer had already begun unpacking the equipment told me the answer. There was another dune directly opposite, about the same height. I could see someone standing on top of it. At first I didn't believe it and took a drink of water but when it didn't disappear I pulled out the binoculars. It was definitely some kind of humanoid form.

"Stay here," I told the group.

I jumped down the side of the dune and rolled to the bottom. When I got there I dragged myself up and begun the painful journey to the top of the second dune. Once I'd crawled up I approached the figure with caution. It turned to face me. I could make out a nose, mouth; eyes that were all sand just like the rest of the creatures body. I also notice the long flowing hair and feminine stance. It raised a hand and softly cupped my cheek.

"I'm Colonel Evan Cole. I'm from Earth, you know, Tau'ri and all that."

It raised a finger from its other hand to its lips and shushed me.

"Colonel!"

The creature exploded into a cloud of sand and disappeared.

"Did you see that?" I shouted to the group.

There were various shouts of denial thrown back at me. I made my way back to them.

"We found any?"

Franklin shook his head and Palmer said, "none."

I sighed, "Ok, keep moving."

We continued walking and I clicked on my radio.

"Lieutenant James, status check."

A few seconds past before James voice sounded over the radio.

"Everything's fine. Nothing yet."

"Have you seen anything, unusual?" I wondered.

"Yes, sir. A group of sand people that were standing in a circle. Looked like they were meditating, they exploded and disappeared when we approached them."

"I saw one too. Proceed with caution but do not fire unless provoked. Cole out," I let go of my radio.

We were down to eight hours before Destiny jumped and still nothing.

"Test here," I fell to my back and poured water all over my face.

Once again they got the equipment hauled out and tested.

Nothing.

"No luck," observed Palmer.

They packed up the gear. Franklin finished gulping the last of his water. Tipping the bottle upside down to be sure, he threw it to the ground.

"You know what," announced Franklin, "I'm going back to the gate. I noticed another address pop up. I'm going to check it out."

"You're staying right here," I replied firmly.

"I'm going too," said Palmer.

Curtis nodded saying, "me too."

I drew my gun to them, "you're staying here."

"No, we're not," said Curtis, raising his gun and nailing me in the shoulder.

As I lay on the ground, my eyelids heavy, I saw the trio march off without looking back. I was done. My eyes slid shut.

I could once again feel the burning air on my skin. I looked up and could see a group of the sand people standing around me in a circle; they looked as if they were meditating.

"You have to..." I couldn't get the rest out as my eyes slid shut once again.

The air on my skin was cool, a welcome change to the unreal temperatures outside. I noticed that I was lying on a bed in a cave. All of it made of sand. Sitting up I noticed the sand woman from earlier walking over to me.

"Who are you?"

I tried to move my right arm to provide support to help me get up but it wouldn't budge.

"Ah! What did you do to my arm?" I panicked.

It rested its a hand on my shoulder.

"It is healing."

"Doesn't feel like it," I slapped my shoulder, "I can't feel it either!"

"This is an extremely painful method of healing so we blocked the nerve impulses to the brain."

I took in a deep breath and calmed down.

"Neat trick. Do you have any other members of my team here?" I asked.

"Five. All named U.S. Air Force."

"Oh no, that's not their..." I didn't see the point in trying to explain, "can I see them?"

It nodded. What was an empty windowless, door-less room now had large square hole in it.

"This way."

I followed the sand woman out onto a catwalk overlooking a huge city, all made of sand stone.

"This is incredible!" I stepped up to the railing.

We must've been at least twenty stories up. The sand woman came to stand beside me.

"My people have inhabited this city for thousands of years."

"It shows," I turned to it, "what do you call yourselves?"

"We are Olari."

"Mmm… Olari, nice."

"You are Tau'ri?"

"Yes. I am from a planet called Earth, in the Milky Way galaxy," I explained

"I do not know of this Earth, nor of this Milky Way."

I pointed in the direction I thought Earth was in, "it billions of light-years that way, I think."

"You travel all this way to seek us. Surely you have some interest in planets closer to home."

"We're stranded on a space ship," here comes the part where I ask for help, "and we need lime to fix the life support system or w-we'll al die."

"Your situation is not good?"

"No, not good at all."

"Please, follow me. I will lead you to your team."

I followed it another two hundred metres along the side of the building until it stopped at a wall and walked into it.

"Hey, lady!" I shouted, "If you hadn't noticed, I can't walk through walls!"

The wall opened up letting me in. James, Greer, Eli and Rush were inside.

"Colonel," Greer stood to attention as always.

"Are any of you hurt?" I asked.

James stood up and took a look at my shoulder.

"None of us are hurt but you don't look too good," she said.

"Oh yeah," I poked my arm, "I can't move or feel it."

"What happened?" wondered Eli.

"Curtis shot me," I stated coldly, "him, Palmer and Franklin went through to another gate destination and left me for dead."

Eli stood up, "I noticed them when I went to dial Destiny. They were locked out."

"What does that mean?"

"That they're as good as dead," said Rush without as much as a hint of emotion.

A blanket of silence fell on the room, as no one quite knew what to say next. I could hear my heart beating and began to focus on my breathing.

"Do you think these aliens have lime?" Eli broke the silence.

"It's possible," Rush put on his hat, "let's ask them."

"Sand lady!" I called.

A cloud of sand appeared through the wall and began to form a female figure right in front of me, starting with the feet and working its way up.

"You called?" the sand woman gazed curiously into my eyes.

"Do you have any lime?" I gazed back into its eyes with just as much curiosity as it had for me.

Eli chose to be more specific, "calcium carbonate."

It gently grasped my working hand, "this way."

A hole opened in the wall and it began to lead me to it but I tugged stopping us.

I turned back to the team, "how much time before Destiny jumps?"

Rush looked at his watch, "one hour."

"Sand lady," I felt awkward not knowing its name, "could you please send my team back to the stargate."

"It is done," it continued to lead me out of the room.

We proceeded along another stretch of catwalk; this one however, ran between two buildings. I took a quick look down which, was a big mistake. I tried to grab the railing with my right arm; it didn't move.

"Damn!" I muttered.

The walk was long and by the time we reached the other building, I was about ready to puke. She lead my off to the right and we enter another room, the walls in here were slightly more pale than the other structures.

"Here is the lime."

I took off my backpack and broke out a testing kit. I'd see Franklin and Palmer do this a few time so I just copied the actions. I added the indicator and gave it a little swirl. It turned clear.

"Yes!" I jumped up and threw my arm around the sand woman.

I pulled two large rubber bags and a small shovel from my backpack. Unzipping them I furiously began shovelling lime into them. The task was made unnecessarily difficult with only the use of my left arm.

The bags were filled. Using my working hand to lift my right arm up to see my watch, I noticed that the task had taken longer than anticipated. I tied the two bags together.

"You have to get me to the surface," I motioned urgently.

"This way."

The creature moved quite fast. I tried to keep up but dragging two heavy bags of lime with one hand was slowing me down. When I got back to the first building I stopped to check my watch, five minutes until Destiny jumps.

"How much further," I asked, doing my best to catch up with the creature.

"Not far."

Not far was an understatement. We entered an empty room. The creature disappeared and the hole sealed up.

"Hey! I'm supposed to be on the surface!"

I stood next to the bags in the centre of the room and check my watch. Destiny was gone.

"FUCK!" I sank to my knees, "this is not happening.

The room lit up and four rings fell around me. Seconds later I was kneeling in front of the gate ramp as the rings dropped into the sand.

"Colonel!"

Eli was standing at the top of the ramp with his hand in the event horizon, grinning. I looked around; a smile broke onto my face. My hand found the bags and I dragged them up the ramp, sitting the just inside the event horizon. The gate slowly dragged them in.

"Let's get out of here," I patted Eli on the back and we stepped through.

On the other side Rush was ordering people about, getting them to carry the lime to the nodes.

Scott came up to me and handed me a bottle, "good to see you, sir."

I gave him a smile and a pat on the back.

"Rush, how long until the life support is up and running?"

He gave me an annoyed look before leaving with several scientists and the bags of lime. TJ came running up to me with a med kit.

"Are you hurt?"

I shook my head, "I'm fine. I'm fine thanks to a little help from a good old fashioned ring transporter."

"James told us the same thing," stated Scott.

"If you'll excuse me," I took a gulp of water, "I'm going to my quarters and I'm staying there for the next eight hours."

Despite how much I hated being here, the cool air and bed were welcomed. Five hours I'd been lying there, just, watching the blue streams of FTL gliding past out of my window. I'd finally regained some movement in my arm, which was good, but it still wasn't enough to do anything. The sand woman actually did quite a nice job on my shoulder despite the stiffness. There was a quiet banging on the door.

"Come in!"

The doors slid open, it was James. She was in a green tank top and cargo trouser; her hair was let down and hung just below her shoulders.

"Hey," she smiled and closed the door behind her, "how are you?"

"I've regained some use of my arm and I've still got sand in my underwear but otherwise, I'm fine."

She came round and sat on the edge of the bed, resting her hand on my chest.

"I could get that out for you," she suggested, seductively.

"Go ahead but you run the risk of getting caught by someone coming to complain about something wrong with the ship."

She laughed and gave me a quick kiss. I moved my left arm around her waist and pulled her on top of me.

"I'll risk it if you risk it," she bent her head forward and gave me another, more passionate, kiss.

"Let's do it," I smiled.

A few hours later I awoke to the warm feeling of James' body against mine under the golden brown sheets of the bed. I leant over and placed a soft kiss on her cheek, she replied with a moan. I turned over and sat up. It was probably best if I went to see Chloe to see how she was doing since I'd been off the ship since the accident. Discovering that even more use of my arm had returned I quickly got changed.

The corridors were once again quiet. I enjoyed the quietness, gave me time to reflect. I'd never made first contact with any alien species before until now. It was exciting, especially because they had achieved and built so much. I ran into TJ just outside Chloe's quarters.

"Hey, Colonel," she slid her radio into her pocket, "everyone seems to be doing much better now."

"That's good to here," I thought about my arm, "an alien race gave me a few drugs to heal a bullet wound. Remind me to stop by before it's all out of my system so that you can run some analysis on it."

She smiled, "thank you, Colonel."

She walked of with a spring in her step and I turned to the door of Chloe's quarters.

"Chloe!" I called through the door.

I didn't get a reply. The door just opened a few seconds later and I was greeted by an extremely sad looking Chloe.

"May I come in?"

She stepped aside and nodded. Stepping in she closed the door behind me.

"I'm fine," it was as if she'd read my mind.

"Are you sure?" I turned to face her, "is there anything you need? Food? Water?"

She sat on the bed, "you don't need to waste valuable rations on me."

"It's no problem," I assured her, "he was a good and respected man; and he was proud of you."

A tear ran down her face. I went to sit next to her and holding out my arms, I let her melt into a supportive hug.

"He'll always be with you," my thumb ran over her cheek wiping away the tears, "in your heart."

The embrace was gently broken.

"Thank you, Colonel."

I gave her a pat on the back and left. Walking towards the control interface room I felt good inside having saved the ship and comforted Chloe.

The atmosphere of the control interface room seemed much more hopeful when I was met by smiles all round.

"Colonel, that lime has worked wonders," Eli tapped the keypad of his console, "first cool air I've breathed for hours."

He took a deep breath in.

"Is the life support system working?" I wondered.

Rush momentarily looked up from his work, "for now."

I couldn't help but smile.

"I think it's time we moved onto the next problem."

To be continued...

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**Like I said at the beginning, huge departure. I made the decision to make the sand bugs into more of an alien civilisation because I felt that there weren't enough different alien species in SGU. This chapter, I feel, is closer to SG-1's more adventurous feel than a typical Universe story. I hope you like the changes, please review and as always the next chapter, Darkness, will be up soon :)  
**


	4. Chapter 4: Darkness

**Hi guys, here's Darkness. Unlike Air Part 3 this returns more to the original episode. A quick thanks to Destiny001 who pointed out that the aliens spoke English which I will try to change in the future. Hope you enjoy :)**

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Darkness

I was handed a bowl full of slop that the boys back home called food.

"Thanks, Becker," I took a mouth full of the stuff and quickly forced it down before the revolting taste could kick in.

Someone came over and sat opposite me, I looked up, it was Wray.

"Mornin'. Would you like some?" I held up the bowl.

Her hand quickly intercepted it and returned it to the table, "no thanks."

"What's the problem?" I wondered.

"I don't think the water rations are high enough," she told me.

"I can't raise them," I braved another mouthful of slop, "at least not until Eli and Brody get me the exact figures for how much we have."

"Understandable," Wray nodded in agreement.

I decided that I couldn't take another spoonful of the sour slop and stood up to leave.

"I'll find you once I get the figures."

She gave a thank you nod as I headed for the control interface room. Now that the life support system was up and running, people had ventured out into the corridors and started exploring. Rounding a corner I noticed a very annoyed Rush heading towards me.

"Would you please stop telling people to activate every system they get their bloody hands on," he brushed his hair to the side so he could see.

"I told them not to touch anything," I sensed another rant coming on, "but I'll get word out for everyone to stop pushing buttons."

He visibly relaxed, "thank you, Colonel."

Continuing on I passed several crew members looking happier than usual which was a good thing. Entering the control interface room I was quickly met by Eli's gaze.

"Have we got exact figure on the amount of water we've got," I asked, rubbing my forehead.

"Just over ninety thousand litres," answered Brody.

"Ninety-one forty-six," corrected Eli.

I took a seat on one of the benches at the side of the room and sighed, heavily.

"I don't suppose anyone's found a shower?" Brody wondered.

I shook my head but Eli answered.

"Yes actually," he put a proud grin on, "and we won't be using up our water supply using it. Just our cleaning mist supply."

The lights flickered and Rush enter, shoving Brody from his console with a grunt.

"Something wrong?"

"Yes," he flicked through his notebook, "after a certain dialling attempt and everyone running around activating systems we don't need, has caused the power to reach a dangerously low level."

"Thanks for the reminder," I clicked on my radio, "all personnel, due to power issues I'd like all systems activated since the team returned from the desert planet to be deactivate immediately, Cole out."

Rush gave an approving nod. I stood up, my hand momentarily found the wall to steady myself.

"Inform me if anything changes."

As I made my way out I heard Rush complaining about something and figured it'd be a long day. As I walked down the corridor to a location that I hadn't even worked out myself I ran into TJ who had a big smile on her face.

"You're looking happy."

"Those alien compounds I got from your blood were incredible. I've almost got them figured out so I should be able to put them to use soon," she explained.

I nodded, "that sounds good. If you'll excuse me, I need to go and see Lieutenant James about our weapons and ammo inventory."

TJ headed towards the infirmary with a definite spring in her step. I turned to continue my journey when I was stopped before I'd even taken a step by my radio clicking on.

"Colonel, this is Scott."

I pulled it out of my pocket and held it up to my mouth, "go ahead, Lieutenant."

"We've found something that you're going to want to see."

He sounded exited but I didn't have the time, not just now anyway.

"Sorry, Lieutenant, it'll have to wait until I've checked the weapons inventory."

"Yes, sir."

Sliding the radio into my pocket, I continued to our makeshift armoury. When I arrived outside the door I made a mental note of the more relaxed and positive mood. I hit the door button and was met by James bent over an Ancient crate.

"Bit public, don't you think?"

I'd never seen her move so quick. She shot to attention.

"I was looking for a mag that I'd dropped behind there earlier," she blushed.

I laughed and patted her on the back, "relax, James, I know you weren't hinting at sex."

She relaxed and sat herself on the edge of the crate.

"What's our weapons capability like?" I went and sat next to her.

"Pretty good. We've got a nice supply of bullets, twelve grenades, eight claymores and a remote turret."

My eyes widened, "where'd you find a remote turret?"

"It was in one of the large cases a couple of guys brought through the gate with them."

"See if you can get it up and running. I'm going to complete the other five hundred and one things on my to do list," I gave a smile and went over to the door.

She grabbed my, pulling me towards her, "I'm sorry I seduced you yesterday."

"No, no; it's fine," I thought of Scarlett, "I'm sure Scarlett won't mind you helping me get all the sand out of my underwear."

She shot me a sexy smile before releasing my arm, letting me leave.

Next stop, Scott's amazing discovery. The lights flickered again and I was starting the get worried, making another mental note to go and see Rush to find out what was happening.

"Colonel!"

I found Riley and all of our battery powered gear spread out on a large table.

"Colonel, look at this," he shows me a torch that's out of batteries.

He places it on a small plate in the middle of the mess. After tweaking a few buttons next to the plate, he removed the torch and turned it on.

"Very good, now turn it off."

"But Colonel..."

"Turn it off. Once Rush gets power back you can go crazy."

I continued onto the amazing discovery. I finally found Scott, he was standing in a shuttle.

"You found a working shuttle, well done Lieutenant."

Stepping in, I took a good look around.

"Do you think you can fly this?" I asked.

He gazed down at the controls for a second, "I'm sure I'll be able to come up with something."

I gave him a quick pat on the back, "take your time, doesn't look like we'll be dropping out of FTL anytime soon."

"Yes, sir."

My radio clicked on.

"Colonel, this is Camille Wray. I'd like to talk to you, would you please come to my quarters."

Short and to the point, "on my way."

Outside of her quarters I ran into Doctor Bergman, literally, who liked looked like her usual shy self.

"I-I'm sorry, Colonel," she said, almost whispering.

"No problem," I turned to the door to Wray's quarters, then realising there was something I needed to talk to her about turned back, "I hear you and some others are seeking approval for a hydroponics bay."

"Y-yes."

I gave her a friendly pat on the arm, "as long as you don't use any power for now you can convert one of the cargo bays."

I noticed a shy smile crawl into her face, "t-thank you."

I smiled as she walked off. My hand clenched into a fist and I banged on the doors to her Wray's quarters.

"Come in," I heard her call.

Hitting the button, I made the doors slide open.

"You wanted to see me?"

She motioned to a chair, "yes. Please, sit."

The doors closed behind me as I sat on the chair at the opposite end of her desk.

"We have some human resources issues that need to be worked out," she got right to business.

"TJ, I know," I leant forward, resting my arms on the desk, "I have to talk to her about that but seeing as she's the only medic aboard, it doesn't give much breathing room."

She looked surprised, "I thought you'd want to keep her whether she liked it or not."

"If she's not happy staying in the job then she won't perform to her best and out here, we need everyone at their best."

"I didn't expect you to be so understanding," she closed the file in front of her, "especially since you're not on the best of terms with the IOA."

"You can report back, but in the end," my expression hardened, "I have the last say whether they like it or not."

"You have a good point. You can do anything you want the question is, will you?"

I let myself relax, "I'm not that kind of person."

"I'm glad to hear that, Colonel."

"You'll also be glad to hear that we have ninety one hundred and forty six litres of water."

She smiled, "that's enough to loosen water rationing."

"Yes it is," I nodded.

The lights flickered again before going out completely which was followed by the familiar distortion of us dropping out of FTL.

"Wait here," I advised, "I'm going to see Rush."

Walking into the control interface room I could see Rush looking annoyed and Eli clueless.

"I'm assuming we've used up the last of our power."

"You assume correctly," Rush grunted.

"What do we do about it?" I took a seat on the bench behind Eli.

Rush flicked through his notebook, "I'm in the process of working that out."

I looked over to Eli.

"We could try integrating the shuttles systems with Destiny," he said.

Rush gave a quick nod of approval.

"Good job, Eli," finally a solution, "make it happen."

Eli immediately got to work.

Sighing heavily, I said, "make it quick, I don't fancy dying billions of light-years from Earth on a rust bucket."

"It'll take more than two minutes to sort this," Rush sounded angry.

"Fine, continue working. I'm going to see General O'Neill, he'll be starting to think we're dead."

My eyes shot open. Judging by the monitor, I was in Colonel Telford's body. I looked up to see the usual marine standing guard at the door.

"I need to see General O'Neill."

The young private showed me to his office and stood guard outside. I opened the door and stepped in.

"Colonel Telford, what can I do for you?" said O'Neill looking up from his desk.

I sat on a chair opposite him, "Colonel Cole actually, sir."

"Cole!" he put his pen down, "we were beginning to thing that you were dead."

"You know me General, I'm tougher than that," I smiled.

He smiled back, "what's your situation?"

"We just lost all power apart from the tiny slither that's powering life support. I've got Rush working on it but it doesn't look good," I summarised.

"I'm sure you'll be able to push past this," he looked to his desk then back up at me, "is there anyone you'd like to see anyone before you go?"

My thoughts were for Scarlett, "I don't suppose Lieutenant Scarlett Rivers is planet side?"

"The Hammond is in orbit, I can have you beamed up if you want?"

I nodded. He got up and I followed him to a screen on the wall showing troop deployments to each of the different off world bases we had. I hadn't noticed but O'Neill had already called the Hammond and I jumped when the deployments were replaced by Colonel Carters face.

"Sam, it's nice to see you. I have Colonel Cole here, he's requesting to beam up to see Lieutenant Rivers."

"Permission granted, we'll beam him up immediately," Carter replied with a welcoming smile.

Moments later I was deposited on the Hammond's bridge by a beam of light. Samantha Carter said goodbye to General O'Neill and walked over to me, we shook hands.

"What's it like being in command of an Ancient ship?" she wondered.

"If we didn't have all the problems we did I think it'd be quite good. Still doesn't beat the SGC though."

I let go of her hand and she sat back in her chair, "she's in her quarters."

I nodded and made my way down to her quarters as quickly as I could. The corridors were packed, I assumed they were in the middle of a resupply.

"Scarlett!" I pounded on the door.

It swung open and Scarlett stepped up, her face changing from hopeful to sad.

"You've come to tell me he's dead, haven't you."

I rolled my eyes, "if he's dead then I suppose there's no-one to tell you that your hair looks horrible brushed back."

Her eyes lit up, "Evan?"

"Weird isn't it?"

A tear shone on her cheek as she threw her arms around me, squeezing.

"I thought you were dead," her crying became more intense.

Noticing stares from anyone walking past I moved us both further into the room and swung the door shut. My hands moved up to cup her cheeks and moved her head gently so that we were looking each other in the eyes.

"There's no point in crying over something that didn't happen," my thumbs flew over her cheeks wiping away the tears.

She raised herself onto her toes and kissed me. I broke the kiss.

"What's wrong?"

"Well," I shift my gaze to Telford's body and back, "being in someone else's body it's kind of, you know."

"I understand."

She went to kiss me again and suddenly, I was back aboard Destiny.

I looked at Caine, "what happened?"

His hands flew over the laptop connected to the stones, "I don't know."

"Find..."

I was back on the Hammond.

Scarlett could see the confusion in my eyes, "what's wrong?"

"I wish I could stay longer but I have to get back to Destiny," I could see the sadness in her eyes, "I'll be back soon, don't worry."

After beaming back to the Pentagon, the stones were disconnected and I was back on Destiny.

"What happened?" I asked again.

He turned the laptop around the show me something.

"The power cell is almost done," he answered.

I stood up, "once Rush gets power back take it to Riley and get it charged."

I was really annoyed at the fact my visit was cut short and made my way to the control interface room to get some answers. Several people along the route tried and failed to get my attention, my mind was set on getting power back.

"Rush, what've you got?" I wondered, entering the room and sitting on the bench.

"We appear to be on course for a gas giant," he said.

"Gas giant?"

"We'll only kiss the surface, not enough for capture," added Eli.

Rush confirmed it on his console, "it could be some sort of aerobraking manoeuvre."

"Why would we need to perform an aerobraking manoeuvre?"

Rush shook his head and Eli shrugged.

"If we're going to kiss a gas giant then I'm going up to enjoy it from the shuttle," this was going to be amazing, I could feel it.

I ran into the shuttle. On my way I bumped into Chloe.

"Are you going to see us kiss the giant?" I asked.

"Yeah, I could see it from the observation room. I'm going to get Eli."

"We don't have long, you'd better hurry," I gave her a quick pat on the back and continued on.

I ran in and got into the chair to the left. Scott and Rush were already seated.

"You almost missed it."

"Only almost missed the start, Lieutenant. Rush, how did you get down here so quick?"

"You stopped momentarily to chat with Miss Armstrong."

He still couldn't have made it that quickly. I brushed it off and relaxed to enjoy the show. The turbulence began to kick in and then the nausea. Other than the fact the shaking made me feel a little sick, it was incredible, like flying through a giant cone of candyfloss. My body began to hurt. After a minute of intense shaking, it stopped.

"Hell of a ride," he exclaimed with a smile, "are we cleared?"

"Yes," he looked down at a small console which he'd routed the ships systems to, "wait a minute, our trajectory's changed."

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"We're heading straight for the star."

To be continued...

* * *

**I was thinking about doing a prequel to this which would run at the same time about Cole and his days at the SGC. If you guys would like to see that then let me know. I'd like to thank everyone for their support. As always Light will be up soon and please review, thanks :)**


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